CENTERblog

Dougie MacLean Charms Audience
by Ally Landis - South Anchorage High School

Despite volcano ash descending upon Anchorage Saturday afternoon, Dougie MacLean was able to give a sold-out crowd a concert that kept audience members clapping to the beat, singing along, and laughing out loud. When the Scottish singer/songwriter sang his first song it was clear that the audience was in for a treat. The song was reminiscent of a lullaby and had a calming affect over the crowd. “I might be foolish but I don’t care as long as you are there,” sang MacLean as he played the guitar. The audience responded with nothing less than an enthusiastic round of applause and cheers. MacLean gave insight as to how he came to write the songs along with some of his personal experiences on tour. He prefaced the second song with “The older I get the more like my father I become…It’s terrifying!” But the show wasn’t just about sitting back and relaxing, the audience was invited to sing along with the choruses on almost all of the songs and after a couple of times through, the audience was left to lift up their voices as MacLean stepped away from the mike and just played the guitar. The more fast-paced songs were accompanied by the audience clapping to the beat of MacLean’s foot. “Try to watch my foot from the corner of your eye so you don’t look so stupid up here,” exclaimed MacLean to the audience, which followed with laughter from the crowd. MacLean charmed the crowd with his witty anecdotes and blunt humor but won them over with his melodic voice and lyrics that spoke of love- whether it be the love of nature or the love of his homeland in his moving song Caledonia. And just when one thought it couldn’t get any more entertaining than this MacLean pulled out his harmonica, which he wanted to play because Bob Dylan did and it looked “cool.” And play he did. Along with love, MacLean sang of humanities ignorance in his song “Broken Wings” and also did a spooky piece in which he wrote after visiting the execution site of Mary Queen of Scots. At the end of the show the audience showed their appreciation for the talent of the Scottish singer with a standing ovation that resulted in MacLean coming back on stage for an encore.

Dougie Maclean
Whistling Swan Productions
March 28, 2009 at 7:30 p.m.
Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, Sydney Laurence Theatre